Do you trust Bovada?

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rykon

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Hello Poker Fellas
Do you feel like you are cheated by Bovada?? Sometimes feel they have own player by table. I hope im wrong. What do you think?
 
dmorris68

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First, a disclaimer: I have no reason to believe Bovada is intentionally doing anything shady at all.

That said, their insistence on "protecting" their sportsbook poker fish from winning poker players by adopting the anonymous format makes them fertile breeding grounds for bots and cheaters. It doesn't have to be Bovada doing the cheating. Unlike other sites where HH databases can be compiled to uncover cheating like collusion, multi-accounting, and bot play, you have no way of knowing what's going on at Bovada.

That's why I refuse to play there, despite the softness of the games.
 
SANDYHOOKER KY

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I agree with Dm, i also don't have any reason to think i have been cheated, just donked. Anywhere you play there will be new players, fish, donkies ect., ect. But, you never know what's going on at any site at any time anywhere so it pretty much comes down to mind over matter, if you don't mind, it don't matter.
 
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Titleist1977

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I also agree with them I have been playing bovada for about a year now. I have won some and lost some but I don"t believe I have every been cheated.
 
Karozi615

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I agree with DMorris except for the fact that I am willing to play their and I do. Do I worry about collusion? Absolutely. Do I worry about "bovada cheating me", not so much.
 
trekmaster

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I dont feel any more cheated at bovada than I would at any other site. Im sure that colusion is a factor at any site.I think that most of the people that feel cheated here are the ones who cant use their hud's or similar software.
 
dmorris68

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I dont feel any more cheated at bovada than I would at any other site. Im sure that colusion is a factor at any site.I think that most of the people that feel cheated here are the ones who cant use their hud's or similar software.
And you'd be wrong.

Your chances of being cheated by colluders (and MA'ers, and bots) is far greater at a site where cheaters can virtually never be detected short of player #3206939 openly chatting directly with playing #2386830 and saying "I'll raise next hand, you shove, and I'll folk, k?"

You obviously fail to realize that the biggest, most notorious online cheating incidents, from collusion rings to pro MA'ers to the AP/UB superuser scandal were uncovered by poker players analyzing their HH databases and/or using datamining sites. This is impossible to do at Bovada. They are a black box and none of us have any historical visibility whatsoever into what goes on there. So yeah, it can happen anywhere but it's highly likely to be discovered. Whereas Bovada is naturally a cheater's paradise.
 
dealio96

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Is OP describing a potripper scenario? or is he talking about poker bots?
 
etherghost

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This is why I stick to PS and FT. Although I do realize that U.S. players can not play there. Pity!
 
natsgrampy

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I have seen some questionable plays on Bovada. I have been on both sides of these plays.

I play there regularly and see these plays both in regular MTTs and in the private CC games.

Although, there is the possibility and opportunity for "cheaters" I don't believe it is going on, unless, there are bots here at Cards Chat.

You know who you are #69.
 
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GoodDeedsTree

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well i have felt cheated on bovada and other sites questionable plays and more.. like the worst best case scenerio where in bb i am dealt AA suited blacks. and guy raises 4 bb's i re pop 10bbs he re raisies 25$ i shove with 250$ he calls... with j 3 off hits 4ofkind 333 flo. turn j river j horrid play gets rewarded.. fishy or just luck either way reconsidering online play... i haven't had a beat like this even in real live play... makes you wonder though.. dayum nano servers.
 
Propane Goat

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I see tons of very questionable plays on Bovada but I've also benefited many times, going both ways. I doubt the site itself is cheating, there's just some players who are virtually unreadable because they play ATC from any position thinking they're the next Daniel Negreanu. Any Ace or two suited cards? Look out!

I've never deposited but have a small roll there of ~$50 from CC freerolls and STT's, so far I've seen what I thought was blatant collusion once but that doesn't mean it's not happening more. I figure it's house money I'm playing with, so I'll just keep grinding away, and at the piddly stakes I'm playing at I'm not going to worry about it.
 
strodawg

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I don't know if its bovada but I definitely feel something shady. I see way too many small stacks/forced all in doubling up off the chip leader with the stupidest hands and draws you can think of. Tell me why on a final table mr. small stack calls my all in with a 10 6 off against my bigger stack and AK off and spikes a pr of 6's on the flop????
That os not the only time stuff like that happens I have been chip leader plenty of times on the bubble and I get chopped down to pop it and that happens way to often. I am furious and would love to get bovada shutdown because of that.
 
dirtyoldog

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way to often there it happens I think, and I find if you play the small tournys like a buck or two which don't have a guarantee it doesn't happen as much.
but you can sit there card dead forever not playing a hand then you get pocket aces play it right and get knocked out by j4 off
 
Jblocher1

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well i have felt cheated on bovada and other sites questionable plays and more.. like the worst best case scenerio where in bb i am dealt AA suited blacks. and guy raises 4 bb's i re pop 10bbs he re raisies 25$ i shove with 250$ he calls... with j 3 off hits 4ofkind 333 flo. turn j river j horrid play gets rewarded.. fishy or just luck either way reconsidering online play... i haven't had a beat like this even in real live play... makes you wonder though.. dayum nano servers.

Off topic but you definitely should move down in stakes if this is how your going to describe a hand. U should be 5 betting as opposed to just jamming 250 dollars dude. I don't know what the stakes are.... But actually you can't have "suited black AA" the fact u even elected to include this in a description of the hand is bad. Plz move down.... Sounds like your bleeding money.

End derail :) lol
 
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rene92

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I can promise you, that NO official Pokerclient has own players or something like that. (Cheating Player) They earn a lot of money and the requirements for a gambling license is expensive and hard to get, so why they should risk there business?
Go to a higher stake or play ABC-Poker on lower stakes.
 
Carl Trooper

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Just got 4th in a BDPO event last night for 2500
I have been on the opposite end and have thought crazy weird stuff has happened....but sure hope it's legit!
 
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lilnewtdog

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I don't know if its bovada but I definitely feel something shady. I see way too many small stacks/forced all in doubling up off the chip leader with the stupidest hands and draws you can think of. Tell me why on a final table mr. small stack calls my all in with a 10 6 off against my bigger stack and AK off and spikes a pr of 6's on the flop????
That os not the only time stuff like that happens I have been chip leader plenty of times on the bubble and I get chopped down to pop it and that happens way to often. I am furious and would love to get bovada shutdown because of that.

When you are short stacked at a table and can get in heads up with any two cards most times you will have decent odds. If you are in the blind the and have less than 5 bobs left the pot odds are in your favor to call. Ak off vs 106 off is about 60 /40 I believe, if up against more opponents your odds drastically decline.
 
left52side

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I honestly have played on bovada for quite some time and never had any problem with anything from them,customer service has always been very fast and curtious,withdraw/deposits have never been one bit of a problem and very fast.
There is always great tournaments going on with minimal investment.
I have tried different sites but at this point as far as my bankroll goes is staying with bovada.
 
knileh

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I agree with leaft52side. Great customer service, I can't imagine they have built to be #1 in the USA without great customer service and great games. That's just the way cards run sometimes. You hit, they hit, nobody hits. That's rule number one, expect the unexpected.
 
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And you'd be wrong.

Your chances of being cheated by colluders (and MA'ers, and bots) is far greater at a site where cheaters can virtually never be detected short of player #3206939 openly chatting directly with playing #2386830 and saying "I'll raise next hand, you shove, and I'll folk, k?"

You obviously fail to realize that the biggest, most notorious online cheating incidents, from collusion rings to pro MA'ers to the AP/UB superuser scandal were uncovered by poker players analyzing their HH databases and/or using datamining sites.This is impossible to do at Bovada. They are a black box and none of us have any historical visibility whatsoever into what goes on there. So yeah, it can happen anywhere but it's highly likely to be discovered. Whereas Bovada is naturally a cheater's paradise.

I haven't checked the full landscape recently, but it seems you can "opt-out" of most datamining sites now which would make catching cheaters several magnitudes more difficult then it was in the past. You would need to have personally played (and tracked) an exorbanent number of hands against a cheating opponent to be able to deduce that they are cheating, and that is if they are being blatant about it and not trying to fly under the radar.
 
dmorris68

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I haven't checked the full landscape recently, but it seems you can "opt-out" of most datamining sites now which would make catching cheaters several magnitudes more difficult then it was in the past. You would need to have personally played (and tracked) an exorbanent number of hands against a cheating opponent to be able to deduce that they are cheating, and that is if they are being blatant about it and not trying to fly under the radar.

That's true at some mining sites, not all. sharkscope isn't as much a mining site, if that's what you're using for reference, unless perhaps you're using their HUD. They're most widely used as a tournament/SNG results site, and upon request from Stars they had to allow opt-outs years ago. They've since extended that option to players of some other sites. Stars forced PTR to stop mining or allow opt-out or be sued into oblivion -- to my knowledge no other poker site has taken that aggressive of a stance against dataminers. The rest tolerate it silently.

As to HH databases, you seem to forget that:
(a) regs have millions of hands in their own databases,
(b) it doesn't take that many hands to identify many unusual patterns, and
(c) they shared their HH's and/or analysis with each other in the bigger profile cases (e.g. potripper) to create even larger pools of hands to analyze.

While the OLP landscape has certainly changed somewhat in the years since, HH analysis is still the players' last line of defense against game corruption, whether it be by the site or other players.
 
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kidkvno1

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While the OLP landscape has certainly changed someone in the years since, HH analysis is still the players' last line of defense against game corruption, whether it be by the site or other players.
DM, If i remember right you can see all of the players whole cards, after a week or two.
 
newbie in training

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am i worried about cheating no....bovada is a good site full of fishy players and even if they were cheating the stakes theyd be cheating at i wouldent have to worry about cheaters for a very very long time

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk 2
 
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